1983 photo shows future Pope Leo marching in communist-organized peace rally in Rome

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1983 photo shows future Pope Leo marching in communist-organized peace rally in Rome
Italian left-wing activist Luca Casarini posted the 1983 image of then-Fr. Prevost at a communist-backed rally, 

suggesting the new Pope has not ideologically ‘changed direction.’



Fr. Robert Prevost (right) joins a 1983 communist party-led peace protest in Rome, Italy

Apr 20, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — A newly unearthed photograph taken in Rome in 1983 shows a young Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, participating in a left-leaning mass demonstration against NATO missile deployment.

On April 14 Luca Casarini, an Italian left-wing activist known for his role in the “no-global” movement and, more recently, for his work in migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean, posted an image on his Facebook profile showing a young Father Robert Prevost during a peace march. Several news outlets have since picked up the story.

“You’ve come a long way, brother Robert. But you haven’t changed direction,” Casarini commented in his post.

On October 22, 1983, during a large march for peace held in Rome against the installation of NATO Cruise missiles in Comiso, Sicily, and across Europe, a young Prevost – not long ordained and engaged in studies in canon law – was photographed among a group of members of the Augustinian order carrying a sign reading, “Giovani agostiniani per la pace” (“Young Augustinians for Peace”).

The protest, which drew close to a million participants, took place amid heightened Cold War tensions and widespread mobilization for nuclear disarmament, and was organized by a broad coalition of pacifist groups and political organizations, including the Italian Communist Party (PCI), the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI), and peace committees active at NATO bases.

The black-and-white image, which has recently circulated widely on social media platforms, shows Prevost in the front row of demonstrators. According to sources, the photograph was taken by Gianni Novelli, a Stigmatine priest known for his involvement in the Base Christian Communities and for his leadership within Cipax, the Interconfessional Center for Peace.

Novelli played a prominent role in ecclesial networks associated with non-violence and peace activism, and became a leading figure of the so‑called “Catholic dissent” initiative after the Second Vatican Council. After leaving his religious order, he devoted himself to pacifism in an ecumenical sense.

The Base Christian Communities (in Spanish: comunidades de base), which had emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in Italy and Latin America, played a role in fostering grassroots engagement on left-leaning social and political issues. These communities were later viewed with particular interest by Pope Francis.

The unearthed image was first published a decade later, in 1993, in the Italian magazine Mosaico di pace, within a feature dedicated to Christian commitment to non-violence. At that time, the photograph was presented as part of a broader reflection on the involvement of Catholic groups in peace movements during the Cold War period.

Decades after it was taken, the photograph gained public attention again. According to the same sources, in November 2025, Archbishop Giovanni Ricchiuti, national president of Pax Christi, presented a copy of the image to Pope Leo XIV during an official meeting.

The demonstration in which Prevost participated formed part of a wider movement opposing the deployment of Euromissiles in Europe in the late 1970s and ‘80s. The installation of Cruise missiles at Italy’s Comiso air base had become a focal point for international protest, drawing activists, religious figures, and political groups into coordinated action. The Rome rally represented one of the largest such mobilizations in Italy and in the world during that period.

However, the global mobilization against the missiles was part of a broader international landscape of opposition to the Cold War – often encouraged by the USSR, which included pro‑peace propaganda aimed at undermining the U.S. nuclear strategy directed against Russia.

It is perfectly possible Prevost may have taken part more for peace and nuclear disarmament rather than for the organizer – the communists. However, it still appears naïve on his part largely because the organizers were part of the Italian Communist Party (notoriously a cell of the USSR, directly financed with Kremlin funds).

In particular, the Italian Communist Party operated – as historians now widely acknowledge – as a Soviet propaganda outpost. The pacifism promoted by the Russians also served the purpose of internal disruption and of slowing the deterrence efforts of the NATO bloc.

The photo can also be found among the images preserved in the historical archive of the Italian Communist Party. Alongside the Augustinians (see here), members of several other religious orders – such as Franciscans and Jesuits – also took part in the event. The demonstration, held in those days also in other important European cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Bonn, brought together people of all religions and political orientations, though it was clearly oriented in an anti‑NATO direction.

The Magisterium of the Catholic Church teaches that socialism in all its forms, including communism, is infallibly condemned. As Pope Pius XI stated in his 1937 encyclical Divini Redemptoris: “Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who permit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the triumph of Communism in their own country will be the first to fall victims of their error.”

Luca Casarini was personally invited by Pope Francis to take part in the Synod on Synodality held at the Vatican from October 4 to 29, 2023, as one of the lay guests with the right to speak but not to vote. His presence was both highly symbolic and controversial.